1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of virtual metropolitan area network (VMAN) topologies and internetwork communications technologies. In particular, the present invention relates to a protocol for use in a VMAN network architecture to route and forward data packets according to the VMAN configuration.
2. Background Information and Description of Related Art
A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a network that interconnects users with computer resources in a geographic area or region larger than that covered by a local area network but smaller than the area covered by a wide area network. The term is typically applied to the interconnection of networks in a city into a single larger network (which may then also offer efficient connection to a wide area network). The amount of data traffic being sent over MANs is increasing at an exponential rate. This is due in part to the increasingly ubiquitous use of the Internet by consumers and businesses, as well as the increasingly bandwidth-intensive nature of the Internet applications that are being deployed.
An important aspect of MANs is the ability of MAN service providers to create virtual private network network connections (VPNs) across a single MAN infrastructure, referred to as a virtual metropolitan area network (VMAN). VMANs allow customers having multiple locations within a metropolitan area to transport private traffic, including virtual local area network (VLAN) traffic, over the shared single MAN.
However, the use of vMANs to handle traffic from multiple customers over a single MAN creates access and security issues. Therefore, it is important to segregate one customer from another so that there is no co-mingling of traffic.
In addition, customer traffic must be transported over the MAN without interfering with the customers"" own higher-layer protocols such as DECnet, or private IP subnets. For example, the DECnet Phase IV protocol can cause problems when routed to a Layer 2 MAN because the DECnet protocol changes the media access control (MAC) address in the packet""s datalink header. Since duplicate MAC addresses are typically not allowed, MAN service providers end up managing DECnet streams by handxe2x80x94something which neither the provider nor the customer wants.
Accordingly, a new approach is needed to securely manage traffic in a VMAN network architecture while not interfering with higher level protocols.
According to one aspect of the invention, a method and system is provided in which a VMAN protocol is used to segregate MAN traffic at a customer and a provider domain level. A switch at the edge of the MAN encapsulates a customer data packet from an initiating 802.1Q customer domain in a new Ethernet header, which is used to specify the IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tags as determined by the customer-related VLAN configurations. A switch at the core of the MAN encapsulates the data packet further in another new Ethernet header, which is used to specify new VMAN tags as determined by the MAN service provider VMAN configurations. The nested encapsulation is repeated as necessary until the data packet is eventually forwarded to a remote switch at the edge of the MAN in accordance with the VMAN configuration, or the source and destination address in the original data packet. The remote switch strips the VMAN tags from the data packet, and forwards the stripped data packet to the receiving 802.1Q customer domain as specified in the IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tag.
According to one aspect of the invention, apparatus are provided to carry out the above and other methods.